Soft Pumpkin Cookies– reminiscent of a muffin top dotted with pools of melty chocolate! These cookies taste like they are straight from a bakery and can be whipped together in one bowl.
If you’re hoping for pumpkin cookies without chocolate chips, these Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting are every bit as soft and thick.
Soft Pumpkin Cookies
Last year, I worked hard to perfect a pumpkin cookie recipe with the texture of classic Chocolate Chip Cookies. After much experimentation, I created Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. These offer the rich flavors of pumpkin pie in a cookie that’s soft and chewy with crisp edges.
These cookies stand out from the usual varieties. They’re thick, chewy, soft, and cake-like, much like a muffin top. This recipe echoes the Soft Pumpkin Cookies my mom made during my childhood. While they might not fit the traditional cookie definition, they’re one of my favorite fall treats. If you’re a fan of thick, soft pumpkin cookies with chocolate, this recipe is for you!
Ingredients
- Canned Pumpkin: Use pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.
- White Sugar & Brown Sugar: Makes the cookies sweet and soft. Lightly pack the brown sugar to avoid over-sweetening.
- Vegetable Oil: Keeps the cookies moist and tender. If you want a richer flavor, swap some oil with melted butter.
- Egg: Helps hold everything together.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds a sweet, warm flavor.
- Cinnamon & Pumpkin Pie Spice: Brings in that warm, spiced pumpkin flavor. Adjust the spices to your taste if you want more or less.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Helps the cookies rise and stay fluffy. Use fresh baking powder and soda for the best results.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and boosts flavor.
- Flour: Gives structure to the cookies. Spoon the flour into the cup and level it off to avoid making the cookies dense.
- Chocolate Chips: Adds chocolatey bites. Save some mini chips to press onto the cookies after baking for a prettier look.
Quick Tip
Pumpkin pie spice is a delicious combination of warming spices (like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice). Find it with the other spices in the grocery store, or you can make your own!
How To Make Soft Pumpkin Cookies
- Mix Wet Ingredients: Combine canned pumpkin, white and brown sugars, vegetable oil, an egg, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth. Add food dye if desired for a darker color.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Add ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, and both types of chocolate chips. Mix until just combined; the dough will be wet and sticky.
- Chill Dough: Optionally, chill the dough for easier handling and enhanced flavor.
- Bake: Preheat the oven and line a baking tray. Scoop balls of dough onto the tray and bake.
- Add Chocolate Chips: Press extra chocolate chips onto the tops of the hot cookies.
- Cool and Enjoy: Let the cookies cool briefly on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack. For a fudgy texture, chill the baked cookies. Enjoy your pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!
Storage
Storage Tips
Storing Baked Cookies: Freeze Soft Pumpkin Cookies instead of storing at room temperature. Place cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container with parchment paper layers for up to 3 months. Reheat in the microwave for serving.
Freezing Unbaked Cookies: Freeze dough balls on a sheet pan, then store in an airtight container with parchment paper for up to 3 months. Bake directly from frozen, adding extra time, or thaw in the fridge. This allows for quick, fresh baking.
Use Leftover Pumpkin In These
- No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
- Healthy Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Soft Pumpkin Cookies
Equipment
- large sheet pan,
- Parchment paper or silicon baking mat
- Hand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup canned pumpkin not an entire can, not pumpkin filling
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice see note 1
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet miniature chocolate chips divided
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- Red or orange food dye optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add 1 cup canned pumpkin (not entire can), granulated sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla. Mix until completely smooth. If desired, add in food dye—this will give you a darker, more “pumpkin-looking” cookie. (The photos have 3 drops of orange food coloring.) Mix until completely smooth.
- Without stirring between these additions, add in cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips, and regular chocolate chips. Mix by hand or with an hand mixer until just combined. Do not overmix. The dough is wet, thick, and sticky!
- Cover tightly and chill dough for 30 minutes up to 10 hours. Chilling is not necessary, but it makes dough easier to work with and intensifies flavors.
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out balls of dough onto the sheet pan. Try to smooth or round the balls, but it’s okay if they’re a bit bumpy; the dough is messy to work with. Bake for 8–11 minutes and remove. Use remaining 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips to press a few more chocolate chips on the tops of the cookies straight out of the oven.
- Let cookies stand on the sheet pan for 3–4 minutes before using a spatula to transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Repeat baking process with remaining dough, keeping dough in the fridge until it’s scooped into cookies (colder dough = easier to work with!) For a fudgy pumpkin pie-type cookie, chill cooked cookies in the fridge—delish!
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I won the office baking contest with this recipe! I absolutely LOVE these cookies and have made them every fall for the past several years. They’re soft and very much like muffin tops and absolutely delicious! Even family members who aren’t early into pumpkin love these!
I am so thrilled to hear this! What a compliment! Thanks for your comment Aela!
I followed the directions exactly and they turned out horrible, pumpkin does not belong in cookies. The texture was like a cake, very dense and disgusting will never make again or recommend anyone to make this awful recipe.
Sorry you didn’t love this recipe June! These aren’t typical cookies, as described in the post and similar to what you ended up with (“These cookies aren’t your typical type of cookie. They are thick, chewy, soft, and cake-like– resembling a muffin top.”) Sorry this wasn’t for you!
We LOVE this cookie! I made 5 large
bakery style cookies for our son’s family and the grandkids (all teenagers that love a cookie store called Crumbles) raved about them and said my cookies were definitely good competition for Crumbles! That is their highest compliment!
I am so thrilled to hear this! Thank you so much Debby! 🙂
What would happen if i used a whole egg instead of just an egg yolk?
Texture will be too wet
I made these yesterday and they turned out awesome. I did make a few substitutions though, first I only had 3/4 of a cup of AP flour so I added 1/4 of almond flour and 1/4 cup of coconut flour. Then I swapped the egg with a flax egg to make it vegan and used coconut oil as my oil. Then I added non dairy white chocolate and mini dark chocolate chips. I also didn’t chill the dough and my daughter had no problem working with it!
Thanks so much for sharing your changes! Glad you enjoyed these!